Attorneys rested their cases in the trial of Richmond Phillips, who is facing two first-degree murder charges and other related counts, on Thursday morning. Defense attorneys called no witnesses, and Phillips did not testify.

After both sides deliver closing arguments, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., the case will head to the jury.

Prosecutors have said Phillips, 40, shot and killed 20-year-old Wynetta Wright outside a Hillcrest Heights comunity center in May 2011 because he did not want to pay her child support.

The slaying occurred hours before Phillips was to submit a DNA sample that would ultimately prove he was the father of Wright’s daughter, Jaylin Wright.

After killing Wynetta Wright, prosecutors have said, Phillips drove Jaylin in Wynetta Wright’s SUV to a nearby apartment complex and left her in the hot vehicle to die. He then lied to investigators probing her disappearance and death, prosecutors said.

Defense attorneys have acknowledged Phillips lied several times to investigators but said he did so to cover up an affair, not a murder. They have said Phillips met with Wynetta Wright in the hours before she was killed but left her alone in a dangerous area to take another daughter to school.

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With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick O’Connor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More